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Angry Birds Plush Toys Spotted In Manhattan
These are Angry Birds plush toys spotted today on the sidewalks of New York City today. These stuffed birds seem too light to knock down any towers made of glass, brick or wood. They’re prototypes for the official product coming in 2011, a tipster tells Kotaku. For those without iPhones, Androids and whatnot, Angry Birds…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 24, 2010 -
Pac-Man Celebrates 30th Birthday With Notepads For Snobs
For the discriminating diarist, journalist, field notes taker or part-time poet—one who’s also a Pac-Man fan—Namco Bandai and Moleskine have partnered to release top-tier, retro-themed stationery. Coming this October, Moleskine’s licensed Pac-Man Volant set (pictured) packs in the quality that white people expect from their branded notebooks, now with more colorful retro 8-bit flair. Moleskine…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 24, 2010 -
Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch Has More Than 50 Weapons
With more than 50 classic Mega Man weapons represented, upcoming fan made game Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch has something to kill everyone. The Mega Man 8-Bit Deathmatch Doom mod has come a long way since we showcased it late last year. CutmanMike puts traditional first-person shooter developers to shame with an amazing array of weapons…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
Disney Game Boss Out Before Epic Mickey
Steven Wadsworth is out as head of interactive media and therefore head of Disney’s video games, The New York Times reports. We last ran into Wadsworth in February when he was hyping Club Penguin, then-upcoming Split/Second and still-upcoming Epic Mickey
By Stephen Totilo Published September 24, 2010 -
PS3 Update Has Killed Three Old Mad Catz Controllers
New controllers from major third-party game controller manufacturer Mad Catz won’t explode or otherwise malfunction when connected to PlayStation 3s running unofficial-controller-hating firmware, 3.50. They’re fine. But three old models won’t work. Mad Catz has tested its controllers on the 3.50 system and found that the following three don’t function with upgraded PS3s, company spokesman…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 24, 2010 -
Celebrating Blizzard’s Cultural Legacy
Blizzard co-founders Mike Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham were honored this week as Artistic Visionaries as part of Orange County’s 11th annual Cultural Legacy Awards. Photo by Nicholas Koon. Gameface is a photographic celebration of the people who make, play and love video games.
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
It’s time to put the copy of Borderlands back in the Xbox 360. There’s a Claptrap uprising happening this weekend and my Siren (and maybe my low level Berserker) are going to shut this nonsense down. While much of this weekend will be solely dedicated to Borderlands’ new expansion, Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, I’ll also…
By Michael McWhertor Published September 24, 2010 -
Running From The Police Sure Looks Like Fun
If high-speed police chases were half as exciting as this Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit trailer makes them out to be, everyone would be doing them. Of course everyone would also need to own a souped-up Porsche. In my experience that is a lot harder to achieve than pissing off the police. I’d expect it…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
Press A To Win ManStruggle
To triumph over their friends in Grab’s new Facebook game ManStruggle, players need to bring their “A” key. How does a developer make a fighting game that is accessible to Facebook’s social-gaming audience? They throw out the complicated parts, like combos, special moves, punching, and kicking. All one needs to do to triumph over their…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
The Old Role Playing Game The Kids Can’t Stand
Michael Abbott teaches undergraduates about the history of video games. They must play the old, ugly stuff. Defender? They can deal. Planetfall? It’s a struggle. But there’s this one game they just can’t take. Ultima IV. Historic, important, innovative, (no, I’ve never played it), legendary role-playing game Ultima IV. He gave them five days to…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 24, 2010 -
How Video Games Reorganize Your Brain
It is no secret that video games aid players with their hand-eye coordination. A new study shows that playing video games extensively reorganizes how the brain handles difficult visuomotor tasks. Gaming pundits have been pulling out the eye-hand coordination card for as long there have been video games. Seeing things is easy. Manipulating things with…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
An Atari Collection As Permanent Marker Art
Artist Hollis Brown Thornton is selling this amazingly detailed permanent marker drawing for $600 in his online store. If you’re a fan of “Atari” you should check out some of Brown’s other game-themed artwork, like Mario-inspired Clouds in the Sky at Sunset or, my favorite, Space Invaders moment “Closing Credits at the End of The…
By Brian Crecente Published September 24, 2010 -
A Million New Recruits Join The Clone Wars
If you build a free-to-play massively multiplayer game set in the Star Wars universe, they will come. Sony Online Entertainment reports more than one million registered players a week after the launch of Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures. It was a real no-brainer for Sony Online Entertainment. Multiplae millions of players flocked to Free Realms,…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
An Epic Tale Of Role-Playing And A Cappella Metal
German a cappella metal band Van Canto makes the free-to-play MMO Runes of Magic look more exciting than it has ever been in this music video for “Magic Taborea.” Those not familiar with Van Canto might see the elaborate costumes and props and wonder why the band would go to so much trouble to market…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
Team Ico Tells Us A Bit More About The Last Guardian
A few more tantalizing tidbits of information about upcoming PS3 exclusive The Last Guardian popped up in a recent interview between the Playstation Blog and the game’s developer. Developer Fumito Ueda told the blog during the Tokyo Game Show earlier this month, that The Last Guardian is not a “pet game”, but rather an adventure…
By Brian Crecente Published September 24, 2010 -
The Old Republic’s Smuggler Gets Its Own Wookie
If a video game is going to feature a character class based primarily on the exploits of Harrison Ford as Han Solo, that class better have a Wookie sidekick. BioWare delivers. Meet Bowdaar, The Old Republic Smuggler’s answer to Chewbacca. After 108 years as a pit fighting slave, Bowdaar developed a warrior’s strength, a strong…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
Zombies Stalk The Streets Of London
“Bring out your undead!” cried Capcom to London Dead Rising fans, urging them to dress in their zombie finest for an early launch event at HMV on Oxford Street. The fans answered. With the popularity of zombies being what it is these days, one might imagine these are just a average group of London young…
By Mike Fahey Published September 24, 2010 -
Hollywood Turned Down Enslaved Flick
Enslaved has Hollywood talent like actress Lindsay Shaw. The game was written by Alex Garland of 28 Days Later and The Beach fame. And its developers originally pitched Enslaved as a feature film. The idea was for Enslaved to be a computer-generated flick. As website Destructoid points out, it would have been rendered in real…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 24, 2010 -
Triple Miyamoto
A pair of artists recently drew and painted Donkey Kong daddy and Mario maker Shigeru Miyamoto. Why did the candy turn into creepy Kirby? Why did they make Miyamoto creepy? (Click the triptych to enlarge.) The photo on the left was included in a 2004 interview between Miyamoto and Next Level games, during the pre-Wii…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 24, 2010